2019 Austria Moto2 FP3 Result: Pasini Dethrones One Marquez

Submitted by Zara Daniela on Sat, 2019-08-10 09:51

The final practice session for the intermediate class was a warm but slow to warm up affair, with a few improvements on the timesheets early on and most of the action reserved for the final shootout for Q2 places. Alex Marquez set camp at the top of the timesheets for a large part of the session but rivals got faster at the end and the Spaniard got some serious competition from Mattia Pasini. The Italian grabbed the headlines by one tenth of a second from the Spaniard, while top rookie Enea Bastianini joined the top three, another couple of hundredths back.

Xavi Vierge had a considerably better morning than usual in fourth place, while Tom Luthi completed the top five. Marcel Schrotter was another of the early leaders in FP3 but was eventually demoted to sixth spot, ahead of a fairly impressive Jorge Martin, who snuck into Q2 positions courtesy of his final flying lap. Augusto Fernandez also left it late to impress in eighth, with Tetsuta Nagashima and Lorenzo Baldassarri completing the top ten.

Despite missing out on top ten positions, Remy Gardner and Somkiat Chantra were only three tenths of a second slower than the leader. Brad Binder finished his morning 13th, although his Friday benchmark kept him safely inside of the top six on combined standings. The final rider to grab a Q2 ticket was Jorge Navarro, the Spaniard somewhat underwhelming in FP3 but relying on a solid FP2 time to keep within the top 14 overall.